Joan García's first great match: recital of saves and MVP against Rayo

FC Barcelona rescued a point in their visit to Vallecas (1-1), in large part, thanks to the remarkable performance of Joan García. The Catalan goalkeeper gave a remarkable display of his reflexes and speed in narrowing the angle to avoid greater evils against a Rayo that made 12 shots during the 90 minutes, 6 of them on goal.

In total, the '13' completed 5 saves, not including several others preceded by offsides from the 'blanquirrojos' players. The first intervention of the Sallent native came in the 12th minute, after a lapse by Jules Koundé and a very dangerous shot by Andrei Ratiu. Then, in the 34th minute, the Sallent native blocked a header from Luiz Felipe after a corner from the Madrid team.

The Rayo's equalizer would come via this route in the second half. Before that, García had denied Isi Palazón a goal with a providential hand, although the action was invalidated by a previous offside. Five minutes after Fran Pérez's equalizing goal, where the goalkeeper was shot after a marking error, his best save of the night would come.

Joan García 'graduates' as a goalkeeper for a big team

In the 73rd minute, Joan narrowed the angle in time against Jorge De Frutos in a one-on-one where the local forward had the entire goal at his disposal to finish. However, the firm left hand of the '13' was enough to prevent Rayo's second goal. A couple of minutes earlier, the Catalan also came out in time to steal the ball from Ratiu.

Barça had a very bad time in Vallecas, as both Jules Koundé and Alejandro Balde were surpassed on several occasions with relative ease. If it weren't for García's interventions, the 'culés' would have conceded at least a couple more goals.

In total, the Sallent native completed 22 of 27 passes (81%), with 6 successful outings as a libero and a couple of duels won. His long kick was not his best weapon (he failed 5 of 7 outings), but he performed well under the posts (8.7 out of 10 in specialized portals).

Hansi Flick and his praise for Joan García: confidence is key

In the post-match press conference, Hansi Flick acknowledged the goalkeeper's good work. I congratulated him. It's good to see how he works with the ball, he is very good and fast. He has not made mistakes and has a lot of confidence", commented the coach.

Although he has not yet managed to keep a clean sheet this season, Joan García has shown remarkable conditions to take over the 'azulgrana' goal. The 'culés' were close to keeping a clean sheet in Vallecas for the first time since 14/15 (0-2) thanks to his exhibition. The Chilean Claudio Bravo was, at that time, the one who was credited with the clean sheet.